opaque
by PerfectPerception
Summary: Falling in love is a messy subject. Especially with him. But acceptance might not be that hard after all. Rukia, Ichigo, Orihime. In which no hearts are shattered and no contempt is shared between Rukia and Orihime over their favorite anti-hero.


**Author's Notes:** Yes, in fact, I support IchigoRukia _and_ IchigoOrihime. I'm just getting sick and tired of Ichigo choosing one girl over the other; especially with the _other one_ is the story's antagonist written completely out of character. I understand some stories' circumstances; but it's just hard to picture Rukia and Orihime fighting over Ichigo. Especially when his character is kinda a brick head to begin with. Besides, they care a lot for one another so stop the hate. Rukia and Orihime are plenty cool in their own right. Enjoy?  
**Spoilers:** Really none, it was established pretty earlier in the series that Orihime liked Ichigo. I'm not sure when this setting is; either early on when Rukia first meets Ichigo or sometime later when she returns to the living world.

--

Contrary to popular belief, love is not a long, slow, complicated road that takes its travelers through many unknown, prolonged passages with pronounced memories; littered with glittering realizations that linger throughout a mind for days until denial slowly dissipates in small measures and understanding takes it upon itself to gradually fill the space left behind.

In fact, it was the quite opposite.

It strikes by surprise, kicks the back of knees and elbows backs sharply; leaving the poor misfortune souls flat on their stomachs with their faces crushed into the ground — okay, well, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration and not intended to be taken quite literally but_…_

But _shit_. That's exactly how Rukia would justify the unstable feeling as.

Unexpected and downright cruel.

If her heart wasn't so corrupt she probably would've humored this situation. This terrible, terrible, _sosososostupidonherpart_ situation.

But sometimes these things just happen and well_…_ you're left with no other choice than to simply deal with it.

Rukia released a breath ridden with frustration, slamming the palms of her hands on her desk's flat surface; drawing the attention from nearby students seated at their own desks arranged in orderly sets of rows. She tried to ignore their blank gazes, focusing her eyes on the small faded ink dot on the right corner of the wooden counter. The stares had eventually strayed from her; low whispers concerning the absence of another student occupying the class instead.

"I wonder where Inoue is," she heard.

"Yeah, it's not like her to not come to school."

"I wouldn't worry about her; she's probably just sick."

"My poor, poor Inoue-kun! Oh, how I _shudder_ at the thought of her and her beautiful mountains shivering all alone in her dark and dreadful apartment! I MUST SEE HER TOD—"

Rukia blinked at the noise of something hard slamming into what sounded like flesh. With her eyes currently fixed determinedly ahead, she continued to doodle aimlessly in her notebook to at least appear somewhat concentrated on taking "notes". Only when she felt a pair of familiar eyes on her did she falter the slightest, the tip of her pencil's lead breaking when she subconsciously added a little more pressure. As expected, an equally familiar voice ensued.

"And what the hell is up with you today?"

Her eyes sharply met his; hers darkening upon the meeting. "Oh but Kurosaki-kun, _whatever_ do you mean?" she replied sweetly, earning a glare in return.

"Don't start with me." he warned. "You just_… _you seem different today. Less bitchy, I think. Actually, never mind I even asked you what's wrong."

"Plan to," she snapped back; her light demeanor fading along with her façade.

He appeared as if he was about to throw her a sharp response in exchange to her cold one; however, restrained himself. Instead he turned away, digging his pen into the paper on top of his desk, nearly ripping through its material. He paused, his eyebrows furrowing together as he muttered, "_girls_." before returning back to craving his notes, rather than writing them, through his paper and into his desk. Within a short time span of seven minutes he glanced at her, questioning this time, "is something wrong with you and Orihime?"

Not yet.

This time, she turned her face toward him; generally perplexed. "What?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You heard what they said earlier. She's never been absent unless it has to do with, uh, you know… things that concern us."

If he meant _us_ as in _youmeherUryuuChad&whoeverfromSoulSociety_ than that much was true. Very true.

"And, well, I mean you've, more or less, ignored me since this morning rather than insult me so… I dunno. I thought there might have been a connection."

Rukia frowned. "Connection? _What_ connection?"

"Like _I_ know." he answered sarcastically as he scratched the back of his head almost sheepishly. "Come to think of it, Orihime's been quieter than usual." His hand dropped to his desk. "Oh. It _is_ one of those girls' things, then—"

Ichigo was suddenly excused from class sporting a large and swelling bruise on his forehead that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Rukia continued to doodle in her notebook until the class interval bell rang.

Only in the midst of gathering her school items had realization dawned upon her. Her eyes widened; shining in horror.

_Orihime knew_.

* * *

Rukia had incidentally gone missing after Ichigo was injured and sent to the nurse.

While other students poured through the hallways, taking books from lockers, talking to their peers, and walking to their next class, she bolted out of the school's doors and embarked on a new journey. She ran as fast as her legs were capable of carrying her with her pulse pounding in her ears and wind whistling past her. She didn't stop until she reached her destination, grabbing the hilt of the nearest wall as she leaned forward and placed other hand on her knees, gasping for lost air.

Regaining her composure she straightened herself, inhaling a deep breath before marching to a door, halting when she was standing directly in front of it. She then bowed her head, wondering exactly what she was going to say. She had an idea how she was getting here and _why_ she was going but… but what the hell is she going to say?

'_I think we have a problem. A really big, ugly, stupid problem._'

Rukia's shoulders slumped.

Her eyes fell on her hands closing and opening as minutes passed. There was a discreet pang to her heart and she squinted in shame. A bitter taste rested in her mouth when her thoughts drifted back to Orihime; suspended on the evident; inevitable truth. The human was _beautiful_. Inside and out. Rukia felt her heart ache harder this time and she wondered why Ichigo hadn't acted upon Orihime's obvious feelings for him. He couldn't possibly be as stupid as he looked, could he?

Well, maybe he was.

'_Actually, I think it's just a stupid problem; specifically revolving around a _denseblindignorantfool_ matter._'

She shook her head.

Maybe this wasn't a problem as much as she made it out to be. Maybe Orihime had simply came down with the flu and decided to rest for the day. Maybe the girl will answer the door with a kind smile, sunken in eyes, and a contagious cough. Maybe Rukia was overreacting; jumped hastily to conclusions—

"Kuchiki-kun?" The aforementioned girl hastily inclined her chin upward, adjusting her peripheral vision to see Orihime staring at her through perfectly healthy eyes while wearing a concerned frown. "Kuchiki-kun? Why… Shouldn't you be in school?"

"I'd like to ask you the same question." Rukia frowned at her mistake. Her voice was hoarse from running earlier and her words sounded harsher than intended. Orihime flinched in return and the shorter girl felt her heart skip. They both knew their newfound mutual connection — as Ichigo put it — and now it couldn't be avoided or forgotten.

"Would you like to come in?" offered Orihime and Rukia nodded; following the host into her small apartment and stiffly took a seat on its couch. They sat in silence at first, tension manifesting upon the moment, until Orihime politely coughed; forcing a delicate smile to play her lips. Her gaze then fell to her lap as she began to play with the hem of her pale yellow blouse, her eyes dimming slightly when she assumed Rukia wasn't observing her too closely.

"Orihime… I thought I said you could call me Rukia."

The redhead peered upward in a cautious manner, her smile turning slightly genuine. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

"No it's…" Rukia sighed, swallowing down a hard lump that had formed in the middle of her throat's passageway. "…okay. Listen, Orihime, I know coming here wasn't, ah, expected or anything and rude on my part, but I just… I need to talk to you about something. About…"

"Kurosaki-kun," mumbled the human knowingly.

"Right. The idiot." Rukia bit her bottom lip hard before continuing. "I guess you know that I recently and, um… inconveniently, developed—"

"—feelings for him." Orihime's grip on her shirt tightened. "I understand, Rukia. And I'm sorry for worrying you with my absence. I just… I just thought it'd be best if I stayed home and…"

"Avoided us?" finished the raven-haired girl. "That's what I don't understand, Orihime. Why would you try to do that?"

Orihime allowed a frown to grace her pretty features, unable to bring herself to lift her gaze and meet Rukia's. Instead, her eyes had wandered off to the blank wall facing them; remaining there as she explained softly and hastily, "I just thought that maybe… I mean, you just mean _so_ much to him. I always knew that. I just hoped if I didn't see him for awhile then maybe I'd stop… caring for him so much. I didn't want to be jealous or anything like that. I just really want to be happy for you, that's all. But I just… _I don't know_ if I can. I'm so sorry, Rukia, I want to be happy for you so _bad. _But I—" She stopped her rambling when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she forced herself to look at Rukia who was, surprisingly, smiling half-heartedly at her. "Rukia-san?"

"You're almost as bad as the idiot," Rukia grinned weakly. "Who said Ichigo was even in love with me?"

She blushed. "But I just… You mean so much to him and—"

"So do you," Rukia reassured. "All of his friends mean a lot to him. Besides, the idiot is too preoccupied with hollows than anything else. And it's okay to be upset. Don't _ever_ be ashamed of your feelings, Orihime."

Orihime blinked, catching a tear with the back of her hand. "I won't, Rukia. I promise."

The ballooning feeling that had earlier sunk to the bottom of the noble's gut had burst completely; a wave of comfort ensuing after. So this wasn't going to be has hard as she first thought. Truthfully, she initially expected this to be terrible; even more so when she took Orihime's place in Ichigo's heart into consideration. But after the pretty human's own confession she felt nothing but stupid. Why would she even _think_ they'd sacrifice their friendship over a boy? Especially over _that_ moron. It wasn't worth it. It would never be worth it.

The feeling of jealousy had now become a vague enigma Rukia's mind wandered from and she felt okay. She _was_ okay.

She smiled.

"Well, since we got _that_ over with, why don't we go back to school together? It's pretty obvious you're not sick and we've still got half the school day left. It'd be a waste if you didn't go; everyone's worried about you."

* * *

"So I guess it's safe to guess that you and Orihime are all right now," Ichigo said when Rukia decided to take a visit to the nurse's office at the end of the school day. He slid off the bed earlier provided for him and brushed the creases from his crinkled pants, his sharp eyes remaining on her as he waited impatiently for a reply.

The raven-haired girl arched an eyebrow at him, placing his books on his bedside while lacking an expected response. He scowled irritably in return, clamping a hand onto her head; ruffling her hair in the process. She yelped, taking a hold of his hand's wrist and attempted to push it off only to stop when she noticed his grip had lessened slightly. She managed to turn her head to the side, his hand still lying on the top of her head, and found Orihime waving at them pleasantly. Rukia's eyes then returned onto Ichigo. He waved back with a soft smile; his smile remaining somewhat there even when his eyes hardened as his stare met hers.

"_Hey_, you didn't answer my question!" he yelled; growling when she blinked blankly. "Are _you_ and _Orihime_ okay now?"

* * *

_"Rukia?" the human asked quietly as they began to walk back to their school. The shorter girl turned to her; quirking her eyebrows. "We'll never fight over someone like we almost did with Kurosaki-kun, right?"_

_Rukia grinned in response. "Nah. I wouldn't ever allow anyone to ruin our friendship —_ _it's not worth it, don't you think?"_

_Orihime exchanged the noble's grin; beaming now. "Yes." Her gaze drifted skywards and she traced the clouds with her eyes as they glimmered in the sunlight. "It will never be worth it."_

* * *

Rukia felt a smile spreading across her lips.

"Well?" he prompted; removing his hand from her to rub his chin roughly with the back of it.

_The idiot's lucky_, she decided then. Lucky enough to have two girls actually care about him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied coolly, turning her back to him as she exited the room. He was quickly at her heels. "We never _had_ a problem to begin with, idiot. Besides, we'd never fight over trivial matters that could jeopardize our friendship anyway."

"Oh yeah?" he smirked, "And why's that?"

"Because," she answered; smirking as well, "_it will never be worth it_."

--

**Author's Notes: **Yeah, I know I'm terrible for implying _both_ IchigoRukia and IchigoOrihime a little at the end. But you know, he looks good with both of them. Even if he's still a brick head. Anyway, feedback? :DDD


End file.
